Breakdown of Мой брат уезжает в другой город, чтобы строить карьеру.
брат
brother
город
city
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
строить
to build
в
in / to (direction)
другой
other
уезжать
to leave (by vehicle)
чтобы
in order to
карьера
career
Questions & Answers about Мой брат уезжает в другой город, чтобы строить карьеру.
Why do we use the infinitive строить after чтобы here?
When the subject of the main action (the brother) is the exact same person doing the action in the purpose clause, чтобы is followed directly by the infinitive. This structure translates perfectly to the English phrase "in order to build".
Why does the sentence use уезжает instead of a basic motion verb like едет?
The prefix у- adds the specific meaning of moving away from a place. While едет just means "is going" or "is traveling" by transport, уезжает specifically means "is leaving" or "is departing" for another place.
Why is it в другой город and not в другом городе?
We use the preposition в plus the Accusative case (в другой город) because the verb indicates active motion towards a destination. If we were instead talking about an action happening statically inside the city (location), we would use the Prepositional case (в другом городе).
Could we use the perfective verb построить instead of строить after чтобы?
Yes, both are grammatically correct here, but they give a slightly different feeling. Using the imperfective строить emphasizes the ongoing, long-term process of building a career. Using построить would focus instead on the final result of having successfully established that career.
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